Beijing: Praising progress made by India and China in boundary negotiations, a top Chinese leader Tuesday said the two countries should take a strategic and all-around view of their bilateral relations to deepen their ties.
"The boundary negotiations I understand are very difficult. I extend hearty congratulations for making that progress", Wu Bangguo, the second ranking Chinese leader after President Hu Jintao, told National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon when he called on him here today.
Wu, the outgoing Chairman of Chairman of National People`s Congress, (NPC) spoke highly of the progress made regarding a China-India meeting mechanism between special representatives on boundary issues which was set up in 2003, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Menon`s counterpart Dai Bingguo, who will be relinquishing the post Special Representative of the boundary talks, was also present at the meeting.
Wu said the two countries should take a strategic and all-around view, equally negotiate, respect and understand each other and make progress using the current mechanism.
Wu said he is convinced that the two countries have the capability and wisdom to resolve boundary issues.
Menon said India expects to enhance talks at various levels with China, expand pragmatic cooperation and settle boundary issues through friendly negotiations, the report said.
India will not let boundary issues exert a negative impact on its overall relations with China, Menon said, adding India is confident about the prospects of bilateral relations.
While reporting on their meeting, Xinhua reiterated China stand that both countries share a 2,000-km-long border that has never been formally delineated.
India asserts that the dispute covered about 4000 km, while China claims that it confined to about 2000 km to the area of Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers as Southern Tibet.
Both sides began to discuss border issues in the 1980s.
To maintain peace and stability in their border areas, the two sides signed two relevant agreements in 1993 and 1996, respectively.
In 2005, the two countries signed a political guideline on border demarcation.
PTI
